Medicos clash with cops

Students were prevented from demonstrating outside HRD Minister's house.

Medical college students in Delhi on Wednesday staged protests against the Government's reservation policy in higher educational institutions outside Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh's residence.

Over 150 protestors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) and Sucheta Kriplani Hospital took part in the demonstration outside Singh's 14 Akbar Road house.

Police said the students wanted to meet the minister to register their complaint against the decision of the Government to increase quotas for students from backward classes from 22.5 per cent to 49.5 per cent.

"We have not arrested or detained anyone," said Manish Agarwal, additional deputy commissioner of police. He said after police reached the spot, they took the students to Jantar Mantar where the latter continued their protest.

Agarwal said as a precautionary measure, they had posted policemen at the Akbar road residence of the minister and closed the road for traffic.

"We stopped the flow of traffic temporarily," he said.

Similar protests were carried out on April 9 by students of Delhi University, Amity College and Indraprastha University.

Arjun Singh said April 5 that parliament has passed a law regarding reservations for the disadvantaged sections of society.

According to the proposal, 27 per cent additional reservations have been made for other backward castes in the Indian Institutes of Management, Indian Institutes of Technology, AIIMS and central varsities that will take the overall quota to 49.5 per cent.